Another Place....

I've been in a bit of a rut recently visiting my favourite places, mostly around Manchester, over and over again. So this morning, with a free day and the sun shining, I decided to go somewhere I've wanted to go for a long time but have never done it.

So it was off to the coast to the seaside suburb of Crosby to the north of Liverpool. It was a lovely day to go, sparkling sunshine, clear air, blue skies with cotton wool clouds and you could see as far as Snowdonia in north Wales with Snowdon itself with its head in the clouds.

But the real reason to go was to look at Antony Gormley's extraordinary art installation, 'Another Place.' For those who don't know of Antony Gormley, he is one of the UKs most popular artist/sculptors. He created the wonderful 'Angel of the North' that you see as you approach Newcastle. And here on Crosby Beach is 'Another Place.'

What it is, for those who don't know it, is 100 cast iron sculptures of naked men all looking out across the Irish Sea. They all were cast from a model that was created from the artist himself. They are dotted about the beach and, as the tide comes in and goes out, they are submerged and revealed again. They must be set into some pretty substantial foundations as they have been resisting what the sea has thrown at them for several years now. In that time they have changed as the sea reacts with the iron and the figures are colonised by sea creatures.

The figures were controversial when they were put up. Health and Safety thought they might encourage people to linger on the beach as the tides come in. Some others thought they were pornographic because they showed the statues' penis'. 'Well get over yourself' is what I say. I've got one myself and when I see it I don't go thinking 'you're looking very pornographic today!' They stayed and people come from all over to look for them. They boost the local economy as well. We bought ice creams to begin with.

I was a bit disappointed when we got to the beach because the ones we could see were partially submerged but a walk along the beach showed us many more we could see clearly and, returning to the car, the tide was going out and we could get close to the original ones. We weren't swept out to sea and neither of us was outraged at the sight of a metal penis or ten!